Board Games That Don’t Have Star Wars Versions That Really Need One!

May 4th is International Star Wars Day (“May The Fourth Be With You!” Get it?).

We’re celebrating Star Wars Day by being a bit greedy. We are dreaming a dream where some of our favorite games get Star Wars themed versions to celebrate the release of the new movie. Take a look below and make sure to sound off in the comments if you have your own suggestions!

After the Star Wars prequel trilogy was released, the online geek community began to latch on to a recommended viewing order for the movies, known as “Machete order.” Interestingly, this viewing order leaves Episode 1 out completely. And let’s be honest, you can’t blame anyone for that choice. Jar Jar Binks. A whiny young Anakin. Midichlorians. The only really interesting thing in Episode 1, besides Ray Park’s fantastic Darth Maul, is the Pod Racing scene. It’s a weirdly dropped plot point in a movie full of holes, but ignoring the context those racers are pretty awesome. And what better way to recreate the feel of pod racing than with a reskin of Asmodee’s Formula D racing. The “speed” of racing seems like a difficult thing to capture in a board game, but somehow Formula D manages to do just that. And really, a giant Tattoine racing-circuit board could be so much fun to design.

Lords of Waterdeep is great for thematically representing political and economic intrigue.

~Ben

In the dark corners of the empire, the Sith lie waiting. Pulling the strings behind the Imperial Senate, sowing discord among the Jedi council, plotting deals with the Trade Federation. Fewer games can manage to capture the feel of the powerful force behind the curtain than…. a worker placement game? Yes, that is essentially what Lords of Waterdeep has done. But it’s still one of our favorite intro to worker placement games on the market. And in terms of theme, the Lords of Waterdeep are about as analogous to Senator Palpatine as you can get. So our next pick for Star Wars reinterpretations is Lords of Coruscant.

Dungeon Roll is an adventure dice game. The Rebel vs Empire theme would be perfect!

~Nicholas

Dungeon Roll is a quick and easy dice game that simulates a dungeon crawl. The mechanics are a simple. Players match up “hero” dice with “monster” dice. Players have extra options by using different leader cards that allow for special rules. The goal of Dungeon Roll is to collect more treasure and go deeper into the dungeon than other players. I would personally love to see this game get the Star Wars treatment. A set of dice with Empire icons and a set with Rebel icons would be fun to own by itself. The Star Wars Universe has so many varied characters that could be given cards that would represent the player. The possibilities really are endless and would be a great way to tie the game into the upcoming movies!

Picture this: A lovely day in the middle of Dagobah, basking in the solar light filtered through the thick swamp mists. The smell just above the line of tolerable, all-in-all perfect. Then some bratty descendant wants you to teach him the force… Of course you lead him on a journey through the swamps, building up your lessons, as he collects the knowledge you cultivated. The weather determines what he can do as he explores the Dagobah landscape. Following your path, he discovers new places, he maps out the landscape, he learns different patterns of the force. All to gain your favor. Yodanoko – because Takenoko needs a Star Wars twist.

Settlers of Catan is a game about resources. This fits perfectly into any universe you can imagine. Why not Star Wars?

~Stephen

It just doesn’t seem right to talk about games that need Star Wars versions without mentioning The Settlers of Catan. It is one of the most successful games of all time and it is easily carried over into other universes. At its core Settlers is about a conflict over scarce resources. It would be simply to redo the art to be planets as opposed to pieces of terrain and adjust the mechanics slightly to accommodate the Trade Federation and some of the other Star Wars trappings. Frankly, I would guess that more than a few people would buy it and play it just based on the Star Wars theme alone.